Asura
Asura, known, among other monikers, as Asura of Darkness,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 265, Page 15 was a Demon God from the Demon World who allied himself with Lucia Raregroove.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 145, Page 12 Appearance In his normal form, Asura is the smallest Demon God, barely reaching up to a normal human's waist in height. His appearance is that of a purple-skinned humanoid being of extremely skinny build; his long arms and hands (the former ones reaching down below his feet, and the latter possessing long, pointed black nails), in particular, are incredibly thin, almost skeletal. He has wide, pale yellow eyesRave Master Manga: Volume 33, Cover and scale-like formations on his face, as well as two webbed, fin-like protrusions growing from his head's sides, where his ears should be; the lower half of his face isn't visible, but he seems to have a thin, flattened nose. The Demon God's slim legs end in dark hooves. The lower half of Asura's face is always obscured from sight by a rectangular green garment, hanging from his head's sides and reaching down to his lower chest, which is adorned by a red motif in its central part, and bears a series of thin strips on its lower edge. The Demon God's sleeveless shirt, consisting of a series of overlapping layers of pale brown cloth, bears several more rows of orangish brown hanging strips, and comes with a large, green, rounded flaring collar, with golden segmented edges flanked by a line of flower-like motifs in a different shade of green. Asura dons metal armbands and baggy dark pants ending below his knees. The most distinguishing piece of his outfit is most likely his oversized headgear, arching down at his head's sides (where it ends in hanging tassels), which is green and yellow in color; this has a grey metal section topping Asura's forehead, coming with a series of rounded triangles bearing black motifs of different shape. Personality Asura remains silent on most occasions, usually speaking only if directly questioned or when calling out the name of his Dark Brings upon their activation; on the other hand, he can oftentimes be heard making weird noises.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 276, Pages 6-15 He became more talkative after Haru Glory angered him, causing him to enter his enlarged form: while in such state, he voiced his sustain for Lucia and his goalsRave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Pages 11-14 and mocked the Rave Master while brutalizing him,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 283, Pages 2-3 displaying a degree of cruelty. He is proud of his mastery over every Dark Bring, believing them to make his body indestructible.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 283, Pages 18-19 Synopsis Star Vestige arc Asura is mentioned during Shuda's meeting with Sieg Hart, while the two of them discuss Dark Randezvous, a project which had Demon Card ally itself with a number of other powerful organizations and individuals; among which are the Demon Gods. Asura, in particular, is said to have granted Lucia the power of his Mother Dark Bring. The Final Battle arc Asura first appears in person when summoned forth by Lucia for the final battle against the Rave Warriors. He manifests himself in the Country of Amul, where he watches from the sidelines, sitting in his litter, as his army of golem soldiers raids a town, easily overwhelming the defenders. When the Rave Warriors approach the distorted dimension generated by Lucia, Asura's subordinates attack them,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 273, Pages 15-18 but are repelled by the combined efforts of the enemy group and of their assembled allies.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 274, Pages 1-20 The Demon God awaits the Rave Warriors on the other side alongside Lucia and his peers. Asura is the first to be sent into action by the Demon Card leader: under his orders, he flies towards the opponents' airship and breaches into it; he proceeds to send Hamrio Musica, the pilot, flying off with Giant, and then relocates to the main bridge, appearing before the other Rave Warriors with Though the Wall. Shuda and Belnika's attacks prove useless against him, and, after avoiding a slash from Haru, Asura blasts most enemies with Ballettänzer Zeffrea and then reduces the airship to pieces with Zero Stream, causing it to crash into the ground. He then appears behind Elie, imprisoning her with his Dark Bring Fabricator and flying away with the kidnapped girl, intending to bring her back to Lucia.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Pages 4-17 The Rave Master is quick to go after him with Silfarion.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 276, Pages 2-3 As he catches up to the Demon God, however, Asura uses Gate to summon forth his comrade Uta, who stops Haru in his tracks. The Rave Master, however, continues the chase when Musica and Let Dahaka step in to take Uta on.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 276, Pages 8-13 As his golem soldiers fight the Rave Warriors' allies in the human world,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Pages 2-4 Asura continues flying away from Haru. The Rave Master finally manages to reach him using Mel Force and the nearby environment to propel himself towards the Demon God, striking him with Explosion and sending him crashing down into the ground. Asura, however, emerges unscathed. Noting his irritation at Haru, he proceeds to take on his larger form, revealing all of the Dark Brings embedded in his body. After verbally enforcing Lucia's reasons, he swallows the orb containing Elie and begins fighting the Rave Master, employing his Dark Brings to avoid his opponents' attacks and deliver his own through dangerous combinations. When his use of Stone Roses and Giant fails to petrify Haru, Asura is shocked to discover Plue destroying the former Dark Bring. He angrily kicks the animal away, and proceeds to have him obliterated with Black Zenith. However, Haru steps in to take the full brunt of the technique, shielding Plue with his own body.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Pages 7-20 Asura mocks the Rave Master for suffering such grievous damage for the sake of his pet. He then continues his ruthless assault, bombarding Haru with several Dark Bring combinations and shattering the bottle of elixir the boy was trying to drink; he eventually breaks his opponent's bones by combining Full Metal and All Crush, forcing Haru to the ground and declaring his victory. Asura is then surprised to see Haru's sword enveloped in bright light. Having picked it up, and believing its light to stem from Rave, the Demon God tries to shatter it, stomping on Haru's head while he tries to stop him. However, no matter how hard he tries, Asura finds himself incapable of breaking the weapon. The Rave Master manages to stand back on his feet, crying for the Demon God not to touch that sword. Asura is then shocked to see the weapon flying away from his hands and return to the Rave Master. Having been told that its name is Ravelt, the dismayed King of Darkness has his Dark Brings destroyed all at once, and is then struck down by a mighty swing from Haru (a so-called "attack from the whole world), his body reduced to pieces. Asura frantically notes how all he can see is darkness before fading away.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 283, Pages 2-20 Dark Brings & Abilities Asura has command over a vast army of golem soldiers, towering living statues built from the hardest rock in the Demon World,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 273, Page 16 capable of easily overwhelming normal soldiers. However, this is but his smallest asset: by many indications the most resourceful Demon God, Asura is an exceedingly powerful character. He was able to outmatch all the Rave Warriors at once, giving them little chance to react and causing their group to be scattered.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Pages 14-15 He also dominated Haru Glory, the Rave Master, keeping the upper hand for most of their battle, and ultimately losing only when pitted against his one great weakness: Rave.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 283, Pages 17-20 Flight: While Asura's movements on the ground appear unfirm and clumsy, he is perfectly at ease when maneuvering in midair: he has shown the ability to float and fly around at incredible speed; the latter action can grant him enough momentum to leave behind a long and break through large crystallic formations trail and the hull of the Rave Warriors' airship with the same ease. trailRave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Pages 6-9 He can also take flight to avoid enemy strikes, as well as employ an aerial position to better perform attacks of his own.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Pages 12-13 Invulnerability: It appears Asura is impervious to any form of damage not directly inflicted by his polar opposite, Rave (and, by extension, by Ravelt, the tenth form of Haru Glory's Ten Commandments sword, in which the stone is embedded): he remained completely unfazed when struck by a simultaneous assault from Belnika's Magic and Shuda's Heavenly Blossom (an allegedly god-like weapon wielded by a master swordsman), much to the Rave Warriors' dismay;Rave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Page 13 even the Ten Commandments itself is shown to be ineffective in hurting Asura in any form different than its final one: being struck head on by Haru's Explosion (quite possibly the sword's most damaging transformation) and sent crashing down to the surface had no effect whatsoever on the Demon God, even leaving his clothes intact.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Pages 10-11 Demon God Form: Asura has access to a second form, which he can enter at will. The transformation process causes his skin to darken as his body drastically increases in mass and height, becoming several times larger than his normal, reduced self, and tearing most of his clothing in the process. The result of such changes is a towering, heavily muscular and slightly hunched being which has little to share with Asura's previous form. His proportions remain roughly the same, with his now thick and well-defined arms appearing sligthly shorter due to his elongated legs, which change the shape of their knee joint to resemble animal legs. Asura grows a pair of dark wings, slender and elongated, as well as a tail, its tip shaped like an arrow head. Most of the Demon God's outfit is lost during the transformation, leaving behind only his dark pants, now sporting torn edges, and the cloth previously covering his lower face, hanging over his neck to reveal Asura's features: a squared jaw ending in a beard-like series of strips (not unlike those found hanging from his standard form's shirt) and a mouth full of pointed triangular teeth, marked by nasolabial folds; he forsakes the scales on his face in exchange for eye bags, while his eyes are now pupil-less. He also grows a large pair of elongated dark horns, jutting out almost horizontally at his head's sides and curving downwards near the tip. Asura's most notable trait, however, is the myriad of Dark Brings embedded in tidy rows all over his body (something which, however, makes individual stones possible to target), all taking their basic form of dark spherical gems.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Pages 11-14 While in such state, he is capable of storing people he has entrapped with Dark Bring Fabricator inside his body, swallowing them without causing them any harm.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Page 14 *'Dark Bring Combination': This form grants Asura the unique ability to employ two Dark Brings at the same time, combining their effects to enhance their effectiveness. Such process is manifested physically by the selected pair of gems present on his body emitting light at once. When first employing this skill, the Demon God was actually shown using three Dark Brings together, seeing how he initiated a combined assault from Valsyar Flame and Armure d'Etoile while still in the airy form granted him by Smoke Bay. Combining Dark Brings grants Asura great versatility in his attack pattern, allowing him to boost his techniques' power, their chance to hitRave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Pages 15-17 or the speed at which they are performed.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 283, Page 5 *'Enhanced Strength': True to his increased size, Asura gains great physical strength, causing him to crack a large section of the ground upon stomping Haru, and letting him momentarily bend Ravelt, a sword forged by a Silver Claimer of Hamrio Musica's caliber, with his bare hands (seemingly being prevented from snapping it in two by the power of Rave).Rave Master Manga: Chapter 283, Pages 10-12 Dark Brings A "living Dark Bring",Rave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Page 16 Asura harnesses the power of every existing Dark Bring,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Page 12 thus possessing nearly unrivalled levels of offense, defense and utility. He can selectively activate his Dark Brings at any given time, exploiting their effects only when he has use for them,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Pages 8-14 and negating their standard weaknesses in the process (for instance, the Demon God employs All Crush only when he wishes to, he doesn't passively shatter anything coming into contact with him).Rave Master Manga: Chapter 283, Page 6 He also has absolute control over all of his Dark Brings to the point that he is able to utilize them to the extent he wishes, reflecting his sadism: his Black Zenith, rather than eradicating targets from existence, inflicts grievous injuries upon them,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Page 20 his All Crush was only shown breaking Haru's bones,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 283, Page 7 not reducing the entirety of his body to pieces. He is able to harness Valsyar Flame, Zero Stream '''and '''Angry Blitz to a more damaging results, even more so than the ones displayed by their original owners. Dark Bring Fabricator: Aside from owning all Dark Brings, Asura has also shown the ability to entrap people into new, specifically generated stones. This process causes the target to shrink, becoming small enough to fit inside the standard form of Dark Brings, as well as to fall unconscious. The Demon God was only shown employing it to kidnap Elie: by pointing his finger at the girl, he caused a layer of a cloth-like substance (dark as a Dark Bring on the outside but light on the inside) to appear and wrap around her, rapidly reducing her size and eventually compressing into the standard, spherical dark gem,Rave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Pages 15-16 the now sleeping Elie imprisoned inside.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 282, Page 13 Asura's defeat caused the Dark Bring to shatter, releasing Elie from captivity and returning her to her original size. The process, however, did put quite some strain on the girl, who, while waking up upon her liberation, was quick to fall unconscious again moments after; something which, according to Lucia, is to be expected after being trapped inside a Dark Bring.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 284, Pages 2-6 Mother Dark Bring: Asura was the previous owner of a Mother Dark Bring, one of the original five pieces of Sinclaire. He subsequently handed it to Lucia in order to follow his plans, which had the Demon Card leader fuse it with the other pieces and with the entity Endless to create the original Dark Bring. Rave Master Manga: Chapter 245, Pages 5-17 Equipment Litter: While capable of rapidly covering long distances through flight, Asura prefers to be carried around by his golem soldiers inside a litter. It is a massive structure, held up by four of the Demon God's subordinates via two large rods extending on the front and on the back, with four pillars (sporting round ornamental sections on both edges) holding up a thick, angular sloping roof; this is topped by a protrusion reminiscent of a shack's own roof, being covered in straw.Rave Master Manga: Chapter 275, Pages 4-6 A carpet is present for Asura to sit down on. Battles & Events *Rave Warriors vs. Asura *Haru Glory & Plue vs. Asura Triva *The term "Asura" refers to a category of hinduist gods. However, such beings are noted for being benevolent deities, in stark contrast to Asura's status as "King of Darkness". References Category:Demon Card members Category:Villains Category:Sentinoids Category:Deceased